Name______________________________________________ Per_______ Date___________________

LAB 4: INVESTIGATING INERTIA

I PURPOSE/QUESTION:
Investigating Newton's First Law of Motion and how it applies to actions that occur in everyday life.
II PROCEDURE:
In groups, perform the activities and labs. Record your observations and summary of results in a
following table format:
Description, Question and/or
Your Initial Hypothesis

Outcome
Draw a picture and describe what really happened

Explanation
using appropriate physics

1. ACTIVITY: COIN
Materials
1 penny , 1 index card, 1 beaker
Procedure
a. Place the index card on top of the beaker.
b. Position the penny on top of the card so that it is centered above the center of the beaker.
c. Quickly flick/pull the edge of the card, causing it to fly forward. What happened to the penny?
2. ACTIVITY: TABLE CLOTH GRAB
Materials
1 cloth, different objects, such as book, wooden block, etc
Procedure
a. Place the cloth on a desk and place the objects on the cloth.
b. Hold the free end and quickly pull the cloth straight out from under the object with a forceful motion.
What happened?
c. Try the experiment with different objects. What happened?
3. ACTIVITY: PENNY TRANSFER
Materials
8 pennies
Procedure
a. Neatly stack seven pennies on the desk, so that the bottom penny is stacked heads up and the others are
stacked tails up.
b. Position another penny heads up about two inches from the stack.
c. Flick the single penny with your finger so the target is the bottom penny on the stack. The goal is to hit
the bottom penny out from under the stack.
d. What happens to the pennies? (The bottom pennies sometimes change places.)
e. Try it several times and keep track of the results! What possible explanations could there be?
4. ACTIVITY: SEATBELT
Materials
2 small passengers, toy car, seatbelt
Procedure
a. Put one doll without a seatbelt in a driver seat of the toy car, and one doll with a seatbelt in a rear seat of
the toy car. Push the car so that it rolls.
b. Bring the car to a sudden stop by sticking a hand in front of it or crashing it into a wall (block).
c. Observe what happens to the driver! Observe what happens to the passenger!
d. Discuss in your group and offer explanations about why this happens.
5. ACTIVITY: EGG SPIN
Materials
2 eggs, 1 hard-boiled and 1 raw at room temperature , 2 plates
Procedure
a. Place each egg on a separate plate and spin them at exactly the same time. Which stops first?

b. Try the experiment again to see if the results are the same. What possible explanations could there be?
6. ACTIVITY: TOILET PAPER INERTIA
Materials
2 rolls of toilet paper, one full, one almost empty
Procedure
a. Take the full toilet paper roll and try to tear off just one sheet, with only one hand. (Dont touch any other
part of the toilet paper roll.
b. Try the same thing with the empty roll. Which one is easier to tear?
7. ACTIVITY: A BODY IN MOTION
Materials
one tennis ball, bucket
Procedure
a. Hold the tennis ball and do not let your elbow leave
your side as you run and drop the ball. Do not throw
the ball. You should hold the ball from its sides so that you can release your grip as you let it drop.
Remember to drop the ball and not throw it, otherwise you will change the intent of the experiment.
b. Predict where runner (sprinter) should let go of the ball so it will hit the target.
c. Ask the runner to sprint toward the target as fast as she or he can and try to drop the ball so that it lands
on the target.
d. Predict what would happen if a student ran at a slower speed.
e. Repeat using a different runner sprinting at a slower speed.
f. What does this activity demonstrate about inertia?
8. ACTIVITY: HOOP
Materials
Erlenmeyer flask, hoop, marker
Procedure
a. Place the hoop on top of the flask
b. Place the marker on the very top of the hoop.
c. Try to get the marker into the flask without touching the marker.
d. Why does this happen? Try it again and see why you might get different results
9. QUESTIONS [WRITE ON PAPER IN NOTEBOOK] (draw and explain):
a. Why does a person feel pushed against the back of his or her seat in a car or airplane that starts suddenly?
b. Imagine you are standing in front of someone on a bus. Is it likely that person will fall against you when
the bus starts suddenly or when it stops suddenly?
c. Why can dirt be tossed off a shovel?
d. Why does a baseball fly forward when the person pitching the ball lets go?